Well let's see, exactly one week ago I was dreading a 20 minute run that was looming very large on my horizon. The morning of the run, I was so excited or wound up about the whole thing that I jumped out of bed at 6:00 am. I'm sure that a lot of people enjoy getting up on a Saturday morning and starting their weekend off right with a nice run. I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. If I'm watching the sun come up, it's not because I enjoy a cup of coffee while I watch the sunrise, it's because I have had way too much to drink and I can't find my house. Now that I have told you exactly how I feel about early mornings let me tell you about my 6 am twenty minute run.
IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
Have you ever seen a sunrise? Have you ever seen one sober, while your running? It's incredible. For the first time in I don't know how long, I started a weekend doing something positive and non-destructive. I hope its not the last.
The run went fairly easy considering I haven't run for that long since high school. At one point my heart monitor hit 209 and this really freaked me out but my doctor said that I probably wouldn't die when this happened and sure enough I didn't. After I slowed my pace down enough to keep my heart in my rib cage I settled back and enjoyed the run.
The first time I looked at my watch it said I had been running for fourteen minutes. I was expecting it to say five or maybe even six minutes if I was lucky, so I was quite shocked to see that I had already completed well over half of my twenty minute run. I did look at my watch a lot during the last two minutes of my run, but it wasn't out of desperation to be finished, it was because I couldn't wait to celebrate the fact that I had run for a full 20 minutes.
I have another run slated for Saturday and I can't wait to see if I wake up at six am again. I'm not going to set my alarm or anything crazy like that but part of me hopes that I wake up early again.
On a side note, I signed up for my first 5k. It happens at the end of week 8 of my couch to 5k program which means that I'll be running my first 5k before I finish the 9 week program but what the heck, right now I'm feeling pretty good about it.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Couch to five K
I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted my first and only post. I've found myself reading a few other blogs and I just don't know how these people find time to write and write and write. One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was to work on my writing, communication, and computer skills. With that thought in mind I am going to commit myself to more frequent posts. Enough about that and on to the fitness stuff.
While searching for articles on fitness and health I came across a website called coolrunning.com. On this website I found a running program for beginners called couch to 5k (c25k). Essentially this program is designed to take a person from a couch to running a 5k in 9 weeks. I currently am in the middle of the fifth week and I love this program. I recommend it for anyone who is considering running but isn't sure how to go about doing it. It makes you progress slowly enough so that you should be able to avoid injuries. It is also challenging enough to hold a persons interest over the 9 week program.
There are two resources that I have found invaluable to progressing through the c25k program. First is a free podcast on itunes called "podcasts for running" by Robert Ullrey. These podcasts allow you to turn on your ipod and just go. Mr. Ullrey tells you when to run and when to walk so you don't have to constantly look at your watch. He also has set the podcasts to music selections that seem to have a decent beat to match your running tempo. The music may not be my cup of tea but these podcasts are so perfect for the c25k program that I cannot prop Mr. Ullrey enough for putting them out there.
The second resource is the message board on coolrunning. I found a few other people who started the c25k program the same week I did and it's nice to have other people to talk to about the successes and failures of going through the program. It seems like there are new groups starting every week so finding someone starting the same week you are should not be a problem.
I stated earlier that I was in week 5 of the program. There are three running days to each week. Today's run which was day two, consisted of a five minute warm-up walk and two intervals of eight minutes running and five minutes walking. I really didn't think I was going to get through the first 8 minute segment but five minutes in I guess I found my stride and finished the first interval strong. The second eight minutes was harder and there were moments that I thought my heart was going to explode. My Nike heart monitor watch assured me that my heart beat was under my max heart rate so I was able to just gut it out.
Day three's run is scheduled for Saturday. This is supposed to be a five minute warm-up walk followed by a solid 20 minute run. I'm looking at this day with a lot of nervousness but then I didn't think I would be able to finish day one or two this week either. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
While searching for articles on fitness and health I came across a website called coolrunning.com. On this website I found a running program for beginners called couch to 5k (c25k). Essentially this program is designed to take a person from a couch to running a 5k in 9 weeks. I currently am in the middle of the fifth week and I love this program. I recommend it for anyone who is considering running but isn't sure how to go about doing it. It makes you progress slowly enough so that you should be able to avoid injuries. It is also challenging enough to hold a persons interest over the 9 week program.
There are two resources that I have found invaluable to progressing through the c25k program. First is a free podcast on itunes called "podcasts for running" by Robert Ullrey. These podcasts allow you to turn on your ipod and just go. Mr. Ullrey tells you when to run and when to walk so you don't have to constantly look at your watch. He also has set the podcasts to music selections that seem to have a decent beat to match your running tempo. The music may not be my cup of tea but these podcasts are so perfect for the c25k program that I cannot prop Mr. Ullrey enough for putting them out there.
The second resource is the message board on coolrunning. I found a few other people who started the c25k program the same week I did and it's nice to have other people to talk to about the successes and failures of going through the program. It seems like there are new groups starting every week so finding someone starting the same week you are should not be a problem.
I stated earlier that I was in week 5 of the program. There are three running days to each week. Today's run which was day two, consisted of a five minute warm-up walk and two intervals of eight minutes running and five minutes walking. I really didn't think I was going to get through the first 8 minute segment but five minutes in I guess I found my stride and finished the first interval strong. The second eight minutes was harder and there were moments that I thought my heart was going to explode. My Nike heart monitor watch assured me that my heart beat was under my max heart rate so I was able to just gut it out.
Day three's run is scheduled for Saturday. This is supposed to be a five minute warm-up walk followed by a solid 20 minute run. I'm looking at this day with a lot of nervousness but then I didn't think I would be able to finish day one or two this week either. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
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